Written by Methmalie Dissanayake, Ceylon Today, Sri Lanka
I remember the day I applied for the APWLD media fellowship in 2019. I found out about it at the last minute. I remember how I was running here and there collecting my articles, getting endorsements from my editor at that time and finally submitting the application half an hour before the deadline!
APWLD Feminist Development Justice media fellowship in 2019, is a turning point of my career. I wanted to be a political analyst before that. But after the fellowship I felt I should connect more with grassroot level movements, civil society and the peoples. I want to give a voice to their struggles, often not portrayed in mainstream media. That journey took me to the stage of Journalism Awards for Excellence in 2020 where I won the award for reporting social issues.
This year, I did not have plans to attend COP27. With the current crisis in Sri Lanka I thought it would not be possible to make such plans. But then APWLD invited me to attend the South to South Feminist Learning on Climate Justice (SSFL) and then to COP27. I was thrilled because I knew this is my opportunity to learn another new subject, climate change. I didn’t think twice about taking it.
Before coming to the COP27, I had only a slight knowledge on climate change, loss and damage, climate finance, false solutions, 1.5 C goal, fossil fuel, how negotiations work, etc. This is a new area that I have not covered earlier. The SSFL helped me a lot to understand what is going on. Being inside the COP space is very different from following updates while being outside. After coming to the COP27, I can feel this better and I have a lot more knowledge on what CSOs are doing and why they do what they do.
I had an opportunity to interview Wanun Perumpibul of Climate Watch in Thailand on climate finance and Tetet Lauron of Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung in the Philippines on loss and damage. The interviews with the two long standing feminists and political activists significantly helped me to have a better understanding about the issues. Also, the opportunity to talk to the people, especially Indigenous Peoples about their pains and struggles means a lot to me. The actions and protests at COP27 taught me a lot. Being at the Peoples’ Plenary is a memorable experience in my entire career and life. I have a better understanding about feminist demands as well. Not only that, building a network of connections with organisations and activists at COP27 will help me a lot in my future work as a journalist on the subject.
I also can share all this knowledge and experiences with my colleagues in Sri Lanka including How the COP works, the demands of CSOs, what gender just solutions are, to name a few. That will really help us to cover climate related matters with a more organised approach.
Although Sri Lanka is affected severely by climate change, the majority of Sri Lankans have very little knowledge on the issue. With the current economic crisis resulting in food and medicine shortages, electricity blackouts, increasing cost of living to name a few, I also feel that people are not so keen to learn about it and pressure the Government. For instance, when the environmentalists went to the Supreme Court against building a coal power plant, people blamed them claiming environmentalists were blocking them from getting electricity. Same thing happened when environmentalists spoke against a wind power plant proposed by the Government funded by Adani Group in India. This is because people are more focused on fulfilling basic needs at the moment. They are more focused on having three meals a day and uninterrupted electricity. Environmental concerns are not always the priority.
COP 27 made me very critical about the conduct of the Government, ‘green projects’ implemented by the private companies, the media and some NGOs in Sri Lanka as well. Learning from COP 27, in my view, the media has an important role to educate the public about what really matters and should place public interest above anything else. Also, the media should be critical and question the authorities on what they are really doing to address climate change. The journalists and the media are the ones who bring the truth to the public. I think in Sri Lanka, the media should be more critical of the so-called solutions of the Government to address climate change as with the current economic crisis in the country, there is a huge space for the corporations to propose more and more projects that are profitable for them instead of the peoples.
I also think the media should pay close attention to the debts and climate crises that are escalating at the moment. The developing countries are struggling due to the debts and Sri Lanka has become a case study for the consequences of those debts. Also, the media should be critical on how the developed nations stick to their pledges to tackle climate change.
When activists are fighting for feminist climate justice worldwide, the media too has a vital part to play in that struggle, by giving a voice to them, the oppressed and for everyone who is fighting for a better future, a better world. It is the media that should take these issues, listen to the voices and connect them with the rest of the society.
I listen to the voices of the people, especially women around the world. Their stories and their struggles, I didn’t know some of those issues even exist. These are what I learned at COP27.
I believe that what I learned as a media fellow and especially at COP27 would significantly help me in my work as a woman journalist to raise awareness and strengthen the analysis of the Sri Lankan public and authorities as well, especially about false solutions brought by the big corporations because at the moment, people are thinking those projects of the corporations will help them to get economic relief.
I want to thank APWLD for opening this door for me. If I wasn’t selected as a media fellow in 2019 and if APWLD did not stick with me for all these years in my career, my life would have been different than it is now. I’m grateful for giving me so many opportunities to become a better woman journalist.
These opportunities are very rare for journalists in my country. I really hope to continue working with APWLD in the future, too. I want to be a part of what APWLD is doing for a better and just world. For that I will try my best, always.
